Is This Reality?
by Sara60691
Summary: A short oneshot of "Force Quit" in Zane's POV. Sorry, it has nothing to do with Bohemian Rhapsody, I just thought it was a decent title, lol.


A/N: Hey everyone! I decided it's been too long since I've written a story and this idea popped into my head during my final today so I just has to write it. Again, I haven't written in a long time, so this probably isn't as good as my previous stories but I hope you still enjoy it!

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"Hey, how you holding up?" the sound of Jo's voice made me jump even though I knew she was lurking around my home. Looking up from my project I gave her a smile that felt just a little forced.

"Pretty good, how about you?" I asked as she sat next to me on the couch. She made a show of thinking about it before grinning.

"I think I'm good for now," she said. I nodded and turning back to the various things I had spread out on the coffee table. Jo watched me work in silence for a while, picking a piece up every now and then, examining it before putting it back down.

"Zane…" she started with that serious tone. I knew that tone meant this was a conversation I wasn't going to like.

"Jo, I think we talked about it enough. Yeah, the others and I were stuck in an alternate reality for a while. Yeah, it's going to take some adjusting. You don't have to worry about me though, I'm fine," I told her, not looking up. Her firm grip on my shoulder, her silent way of demanding my undivided attention, forced me to meet her worried gaze.

"Zane, you are _not_ fine. Ever since you got back you've been having nightmares. You're losing sleep and I think the others are starting to see the effects of it too," she said, keeping her eyes on mine, trying to see what I was thinking.

"It's nothing to worry about though, I'll get over it," I mumbled, already turning back to my project and shrugging her hand off my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her worried expression change into a scowl as she crossed her arms. Oops, looks like I had angered Lupo, this was going to get interesting…or painful.

"Zane Donovan you may be able to shut everyone else out and make them believe you're fine, but you can't fool me. I know you too well to see that you're not fine and I'm sick of this. We're going to talk about it now, whether it is here, or in the sheriff's office where you can't just walk away," Jo threatened. I sighed, but knew that she would carry out her threat to lock me up just to have a conversation with me. Putting down whatever was in my hands I finally turned to look at my sort-of girlfriend/friend with benefits/whatever the hell we were.

"What do you want to know?" I questioned finally.

"What has you so terrified that you're avoiding sleep?" she demanded quietly, expression softening. Dammit, I really didn't want to talk about this. This was getting way too close to putting my feelings on the line and I had already been through that once. I didn't feel like getting my heart crushed twice by the same woman.

"Zane…" Jo started, probably ready to make more threats and valid arguments. I just held up a hand and she quieted, knowing I was planning on answering. I just needed to get my thoughts sorted.

"How much do you know about what went on in the matrix?" I asked finally.

"Um, Allison and Carter told me a fair amount," at the mention of Carter she scrunched her nose, "I can't believe you thought I would date Carter. That right there should've been a red flag," she mumbled, shifting closer to me on the couch. I gave a humorless grin and shrugged.

"Hey, he always seemed like the type of guy a law abiding girl like you would go after. If you give it some thought, it seems pretty logical," I pointed out.

"But it would be like dating my brother!" she whined, shuddering at the thought. I couldn't help but laugh, pulling her into a sideways hug.

"Ok, so you got the gist of what happened?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I don't have all the details because Carter and Allison seemed reluctant to share everything," Jo shrugged again.

"So…I know we weren't together or anything before I left, but it still hurt you know, seeing you and Carter together even if it wasn't real," I mentioned.

"And that has to do with your nightmares?" she inquired, wide brown eyes looking up at me. I nodded, a lump forming in my throat at the look of concern she was giving me.

"It's like…I'm still there you know? I'll be at GD or in Café Diem and you're with me. We'll be talking like always and then Carter will come in and I don't know what happens but you just walk away from me. It'll be like I'm frozen in place after that and the edges of my world just start collapsing. It literally feels like my whole world is falling apart," I explained, voice fading to a whisper. I really didn't want to ever say that out loud to anyone, but Jo just had this way of making me spill my heart out. She just stared at me for a moment before a sad smile crossed her face. She shifted, fitting her body against mine, resting her head on my shoulder.

"I've had those feelings too. When the timeline changed and you weren't the version of you I used to know…my world did basically fall apart. It took some getting used to, but eventually the feelings faded…they started fading around the time you kissed me in the sheriff's office," she grumbled, giving me a knowing look. I grinned and help my hands up in surrender.

"You weren't giving me an answer. You know I'm a curious boy Jojo," I grinned. She rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Yeah, I know…too well in fact. Anyway, my point is, I'm here. I'm not going to run off with Carter, or any other man so quit your worrying," she announced, crossing her arms like a stubborn five year old would do.

"Oh? And what about your walkabout? Are you going to go on that?" I asked. Jo gave me a long, appraising look before answering.

"No, I think I've got everything I need to figured out."

"So you're here to stay?" I couldn't help but ask, just to put my mind at ease.

"Yeah, I'm here to stay," she said softly, leaning up to give me a quick kiss. I smiled at her, but there was just one thing still bothering me.

"So…you said you're not going to run off with any other guys, right?" I started. Jo, recognizing my mischievous tone raised a questioning eyebrow but nodded.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"So, does that mean if I ask you to marry me, you're going to say yes?"

"Possibly…" she answered slowly, starting to see where this was going. I was grinned now as I reach over to the side table, plucking a small case out of the jumble of wiring I had there.

"So if I gave you this, you would wear it?" I asked, taking my grandmother's ring out of the little box and holding it out to her. Jo stared at me for a minute, her eyes wide with shock. This time round I knew to wait for her answer. Finally she cleared her throat and donned an indifferent expression.

"If you insist," she sighed, holding out her hand. As I slid the ring on her finger I caught the absolutely ecstatic grin on her face. After our rather erratic conversation we just sat on the couch, Jo admiring her new ring and me admiring her wearing it. Thinking back on the whole situation though, there was a question still lingering in my mind.

"Hey Jojo?"

"Yeah?"

"I know the basics of what happened during the whole finding the crew thing, but what actually happened with Carter and Andy ending up in jail?" I asked. No one had really filled the crew in on all the details and I was curious because Carter had mentioned something about Jo making a flashy entrance and him being locked up.

"Oh, you're talking about when I came back to town? Well, Carter and Andy had just gotten arrested for stealing some part for Kevin's machine. I broke them out of jail. It was fairly amusing," she giggled.

"Wouldn't Wen have put an MP on them or something?" I wondered aloud.

"Oh, she did. As I told Carter though, the guard and I had a little chat…and he decided to take a little nap," she explained, grinning up at me. I blinked down at her, only slightly surprised. Sometimes it was hard to remember that this woman was basically a one person army.

"That's so hot," I mumbled, leaning down to kiss my new fiancée. She just rolled her eyes, but returned the kiss. We only broke apart when someone started pounding on my door. Scowling, I got up to answer it, just to find Carter standing there, scorch marks on his clothes and the smell of burned hair lingering on him.

"Hey, I couldn't reach either of you by phone. We have a fireball thingy flying around town and I need you guys at GD right now," the sheriff demanded, looking, as usual, slightly exasperated at another Eureka disaster. Looking to the woman standing next to me, I found her smiling up at me before she took my hand and started leading me toward her car.

"By the way, congrats!" Carter called, pointing to his left hand before jumping into his own frequently destroyed vehicle and speeding off. Jo and I just smiled at each other again before following the man into town, avoiding the hotter areas. As I glanced at Jo's left hand again, I felt that I wouldn't be able to get the grin off my face for a long time.


End file.
